Homegrown Leadership

Last night Karen and I attended revival services at Gateway Community Church, in Window Rock. Gateway is a growing church whose mission field includes the capitol of the Navajo Nation.

The service was wonderful, but what blessed me most was the preacher. Evangelist Chris Boyd was saved and discipled through the ministry of Gateway. After sensing God's call to ministry, he and his wife moved to Ft. Worth, Texas, where they are students at Southwestern Seminary. Their intent after graduation is to return home and lead healthy, reproducing churches, to the glory of Jesus Christ.

What an answer to prayer! Even though I am an outsider, I have long believed that the key to reaching Native Americans for Christ is discipling and engaging them in ministry. I may reach a few, but when those I reach go out in His name... well, this is when whole communities will come to Christ.

Please pray for Chris and his wife as they complete their seminary studies. May our Lord raise him into a powerful communicator of the gospel. Pray for his pastor, Doyle Hales, that Chris will be one of many who through his ministry become missionaries. And pray for me, as I cast a vision for developing homegrown leaders across the Mountain and Western Baptist Associations.

To His Glory!
Bro. Jim